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“You should haveseen the destruction,” Daphne said as she pulled the needle through the fabric. “Ten people lost their lives in the collapse, and most of them were children.”
“That is awful,” her grandmother replied, “but I still contend you shouldn’t have gone.”
“I had to go,” she asserted.
“No, you could have sent a footman to hand out the supplies.”
“That is what Mr. Stewart said,” Daphne shared.
“He is a very astute man.”
“That he is, and he spent hours helping to dispose of the dirt from the mine.”
“That was most kind of him.”
Daphne lowered the fabric to her lap. “It was, wasn’t it?”
Her grandmother gave her a knowing look. “It almost sounds as if you are developing some feelings for Mr. Stewart.”
“Feelings?” Daphne shook her head. “No, you misunderstood me. I think very highly of Mr. Stewart, but I am not interested in matrimony at this moment.”
“If you were interested in matrimony, would you be interested in Mr. Stewart as a suitor?”
“I am not entirely sure.”
“Why is that?”
Daphne pressed her lips together. “He is handsome enough, but his eyes are guarded, as if they hold secrets he will never tell.”
“What kind of secrets would a banker have?”
“I know not, but I feel that there is so much more to Mr. Stewart than he is letting on.”
Her grandmother smiled at her. “I daresay that you are overthinking this, dear.”
“How did you know that you wanted to wed Grandfather?”
“That was easy,” Frances replied. “It was an arranged marriage.”
“But you have always spoken of Grandfather so fondly that I always assumed it was a love match.”
Her grandmother nodded. “That was because we grew to love each other fiercely,” she revealed.
“That pleases me immensely.”
“He was the love of my life, and I smiled whenever I saw him.” A wistful look came into her eyes. “I felt lost for a long time after he died, and I wondered if the pain would ever go away.”
“Did it?”
“It never truly disappears,” her grandmother admitted, “but time has a way of dulling the pain until it doesn’t hurt so much to remember him.”
Daphne laid her fabric next to her on the settee. “I had no idea you suffered so. You’ve always done so in silence.”
“Anyone who truly loves another suffers when that person departs from their lives.”
“Was it worth falling in love, then?”
Her grandmother met her gaze. “It was worth every moment of it. There is no greater feeling than loving another and being loved in return.”
